There is rumer, that something like a "zero based client" (or similar) exists. This should be a client which runs somehow with the Internet Explorer, without the need to install a regular BW GUI.

Any information is welcome!!

Spartacus

It is called WebTop and I think it comes for free with SP6 of BaanERP 5.0c. I also think that WebTop only works with BaanERP and there is no such client for BaanIV.

Yes, it is indeed called Webtop , and it works on both Baan 5.0c as well as Baan 5.2a. It is freely available and can be ordered via the normal distribution channels.
If you or anyone else would like te know more, you can contact me directly, as I am the product consultant within Baan Development for this product.

Reint Jan,

Is avalaible also for BaaN IV c4?
Also, can be downloaded from Support?
Thank's

Alejandro,

Webtop 1.1 can be ordered for free via the normal distribution channels.

It only supports Baan 5.0c and Baan 5.2a, so not Baan IV. However, we are seriously thinking of offering it as a customization service to our customers to web-enable some or all of the Baan IV sessions using the Webtop technology. Do you think this could be of help to you? If so, please let me know, so that we can go into more details about this.

Thanks,
Reint Jan

I understood that in the latest reorganisation of Baan departments with new technology were subject to disposure... WebTop is one of the technologies that is going to be continued?

Webtop sounds great. :)

More info on Webtop would be appreciated. We are considering migrating to BaaN 5c. Would you recommend Webtop? Does it have a lot of advantages?

Thanks

Yes, it sure has!

Webtop can be run completely in your browser, and does not need any client-side installation at all, just access to a central web server is enough.

The look-n-feel are quite different from BW, and is customizable. A shortcut bar is provided, offering quick access to often-used ERP sesions.

Please see the attached presentation for more details.

Reint Jan
mailto:rjholter@baan.com

We just had some discussion on what is missing in BW (see this thread: Client Software (http://www.baanboard.com/baanboard/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5720)) , and, judging by your presentation, this webtop product holds a lot of promise.

Obvious question: Any chance on this product becoming available for older versions of Baan?

Mmmm...

Currently, it supports 5.0c and 5.2a. Supporting Baan IV is something that is not in our roadmap. However, we are thinking of offering it as a customization to our Baan IV customers. What do you (and others) think of this idea?

Reint Jan

Actually, I'm on 5.0b (crowd goes ooooh).

Thanks Reint,

Thats a nice presentation that will get us started. :D

Reint,

Thanks for the information. We had heard of Webtop, but were not sure what the status of it was. You can download a copy of WebtopBL0048.EXE from the Baan support site, but there are no instructions on setting this up. This EXE seems to install a whole heap of objects into the ..\Applets, ..\Classes, ..\Config, ..\HTML and ..\Lib directories, but there is no documentation on how to activate these objects. Is there a server component that must also be loaded? And is there any available documentation on installating/configuring these objects?

Although I know that it sounds bureaucratic and like a lot of red tape, but it is really best to order it via the Distribution Store (http://distributionstore.baan.com, part number is DS0001). You will then get the latest version (i.e. Webtop 1.1; the WebtopBL0048.exe you are referring to is Webtop 1.0), you will get all installation information, you will get Webtop Help, and you will get OpenWorld Adapter, all for free. For OW Adapter, you have to sign a paper that you will only use it in combination with Webtop, and that's it.

Thanks,
Reint Jan

Hello Reint !
We are using BaanIVc3 Application and BaanIVc4 Tools.
If you have some good news for us to use webtop, please let me know.
Thanks.
Thomas Pichlmair

I am in BaaN IV c4, and very interested in WebTop.
I heve seen your presentation and it seems to be a very good tool.

Thomas,

Unfortunately not... :(

However, we want to build Webtop-enabled sessions for Baan IV as a customization. So if you think this could help you, please let me know, then we could go into more details about this.

Thanks,
Reint Jan

Alejandro,

Please see my reaction to Thomas: it is not out-of-the-box available on Baan IV, however, it could be built as customization. Do you think this would help the Baan customers? If so, maybe we could set up something in this area?

Thanks,
Reint Jan

What do you exactly mean reintjan?:confused:

You want to post a guideline for BaanIV users to start with WebTop without buying any additional software from Baan?

Ome Luuk,

I'm a little confused by your question as well... :confused:

What I meant is that I want to look into possibilities to offer "Webtop hosting Baan IV sessions" (currently, you can only host Baan 5.0c and Baan 5.2a sessions out-of-the-box) as a customization. It is not a guideline "how to" do it: it is more like a service offering.

Bye,
Reint Jan

To use explorer or netscape as an interface instead of Baan Client SW, you can install Tarantella SW on backend side running Baan Server. Tarantella SW uses java applets as an interface. I tested it on my site this SW. Compare to Baan Client SW it uses network bandwith more efficient.

Regards.

Hi,

Yes, this and other software (like e.g. Citrix) is indeed commercially available in the market place. What is does it that it completely runs your application on a server and sends the 'netto' screens to your browser client. In fact it is an emulation of your server-side run application.

This is a big difference with a real web-based application like Webtop:
- The look-n-feel with Tarantella will be identical to BW. In Webtop, it is all redesigned (so an besides a technical also an 'emotional' wenb solution).
- Tarantella will put a heavy burden on the server which is actually running the application. Webtop is much more scalable.
- Tarantella will require some software to be available at each client (not sure if it requires some registry updates). Webtop only requires a browser.
- Pricing: I do not know the fees for Tarantella, but I know that Citrix, which seems comparable in their offering, costs many 1000's of dollars, depending on the number of clients you have.

So indeed it can help you out, also on Baan IV, but it is not quite the same as the proposed Webtop-offering .

Thanks,
Reint Jan

Reint Jan

The topic on a Webtop for BaanIV has gone very quiet, has there been any progress on building a customisation?

We currenty run the BW, and I am very interested in the possibility of moving to a browser based interface for BaanIV.

Thanks
Tim